Steps to preparing brass

I just find after some loading the beam scale.isnt quite zeroed.anymore not off by much maybe a 1/16 inche or a 32nd but i get mad lol...i mean i dont see it effecting my loads...i went out yesterday with my two deer rifles and shot at 100yrds my groups were half inche to two inche depending what bullets and powders
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Keep the perches and blades clean.
Turn off all fans (and/or close heater vents/registers).
Don't use the scale in close proximity to fluorescent lights.
Swing it through it's full range a few times, before zeroing the first time.
 
Tlewis81, IMR 4064 Does it for me . 41.5 under a 168 gr. Sierra MK. 270 is a nice flat shooting round. My Rem. 700 308 is my one & only, just love shooting it. For past 12 years in the warm months every Sunday is range time. Cold months shoot a CZ 452 Varmint bolt action 22 lr. for trigger time indoor range, fun but not the same. Rolling your own ammo makes more enjoyable. Keep up the good work. Be Safe
 
There's a lot of magnetic "noise" around fluorescent lights, that can cause minor discrepancies with scales that have iron/steel parts. (But for beam scales, you honestly need to be within about 6 inches of the light. I really shouldn't have had it in that list. :rolleyes:)


The same rule applies to electronic scales, but, in that case, you also shouldn't really have the scale on the same circuit. There's a lot of RF noise and feedback created by fluorescent lights, as well as induced current across some components. Cheap scales (non-laboratory-grade) may not be filtered or shielded properly to deal with the situation, and may not operate as intended.
 
A 168gr 270 bullet????and do you think elec scales or beam scales are more accurate...i been lookin at a few dif elec scales here and there not partial to any brand really like a few of the hornady one at like 33 dollars and their high end like 240 dollars tough to put that much into anything im cheap lol
 
Tlewis81,168 gr. is what I shoot in my 308. My powder scale was a birthday gift 5 years ago RCBS Charge master 1500
 
Higher end electronic scales are pretty accurate.

But, when I can get a quality beam scale for half (to one fifth) the price, an expensive electronic scale (usually with a crappy warranty) just isn't something I'm willing to buy.

Beam scales also aren't dependent upon the power grid, or batteries. More than once, I've passed the time during a power outage by reloading.


One thing that's relatively new and I would like to get my hands on, to try out, is the Hornady G2-1500 electronic scale. (Edit: It's a new product for 2016 - just announced Nov 12, 2015.) Hornady claims that the circuit was specifically designed to handle powder trickling, which would eliminate the biggest fault that I've seen in similarly priced (or cheaper) scales: failing to register small, incremental increases in powder charge, which results in dangerously low scale readings.
At $40, or less, I may order one. I'm not a big fan of the battery-only power, but it's probably a suitable scale.

I'm not opposed to an electronic scale for weighing powder. We have the technology to make them work safely. - I just don't like what I've used in the past.


Here's a short quote from an older post of mine, where I was discussing an electronic scale's failure to increment, because the trickled powder was being deposited in the pan in smaller quantities than the scale's increment resolution threshold:
FrankenMauser said:
(...) In my latest experimentation with a Cabela's scale (labeled for reloading), I was able to trickle 37 grains of powder into the scale pan, with the scale only reading 17 gr. ...and it was properly zeroed; and is a scale that is known to be accurate (when used within its limitations).
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Since were talking about scales I will toss in my .02.. I have a few gravity beam scales and they are new enough to have the magnetic dampening. I removed the magnets from inside all of them. Before you could trickle into the pan and the beam wouldn't budge. Trickle, trickle, trickle and then finally it would move and I'd be waaay off. I read somewhere to remove the magnets and that made all the difference in the world. Now my scales are very sensitive and much more reliable.
 
Scales are catch as catch can. Beam scales work on fundamental principles that cannot be made to go wrong. However, that doesn't mean they are always maintenance-free. If you get dirt and grease in the knife edge or rust forms in the steel V, they won't resettle in the same place. If there is a damper magnet that a non-magnetic conducting plate (usually aluminum) slides between the poles of, you can get iron filings or whiskers in there and have it start to drag on the plate, so you need to keep that clean.

Electronic scales weigh faster and you can tare them with the push of a button, which is often convenient when you are making an adjustment.
 
I haven't shot benchrest for many years, but most didn't use scales. Volume not weight must be consisent. Many of us used a Belding & Mull drop tube to assure the exact same charge. The others gave good suggestions and I would add we were big on neck turning to assure the seated bullet is concentric with the OD of the neck which makes it centered into the chamber to align with the throat of the chamber. If the neck wall thickness is not consistent then the bullet is seated offset in the chamber and gets a bad start into the throat.
 
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